·Gabriella’s reading
has increased in speed and accuracy. She is reading phonetically.

·Gabriella can
actually now read THREE books in the time it took her to read one.

·Gabriella took 10
consecutive steps on week 4 post stem cells, walked up the stairs yesterday
holding the rail with one hand… one step at a time (not alternating
feet). Today (1/11/13), she walked up the stairs with one hand and
alternating her feet.

·She is migrating
more around the home… crossing hallway walls and corners to get to the bathroom
or her room.

·She has greater
balance… she stands and talks to me much more often and for longer periods of
time, even removing clothing such as a jacket or shirt.

·Today her physical
therapist at school said the following: “I can see she’s been practicing
her outlining – it’s getting more steady.” (uh…. no, she’s not practicing much
at home)

·Her recent “fits”
that began in November are now subsiding.

·She has GAINED
WEIGHT… Holy cow… this is huge… she weighed 25 pounds as a 3 ½ year old coming
home from China and COULD NOT GAIN WEIGHT for an entire YEAR. The second year
and a half home, she gained 12 pounds. SHE HAS GAINED 3 POUNDS POST STEM CELLS…
in ONE MONTH!

·And, my favorite…
she is no longer repeating herself like she did. She NOW might ask me 5 times
in a day “What’s for dinner?”

What has happened POST stem cells for Gabriella THREE MONTHS
later:

·Gabriella can now
read the same Bob books that took her about 15 minutes to read, pre stem cells,
in two to four minutes.

·She continues to
want to read several books in one setting, a minimum of three books each
sitting.

·She is able to read
these books now without having to sound out the same words on the same page.
Once she knows a word, she generally knows it for the rest of the book. She has
at least 10 words in her reading knowledge that she can now see and say rather
than actually sound out and read.

·She is beginning to
ask questions… “Why?” is her new favorite question.

·She can stand AND
DANCE in place… even for minutes.

·When her sister
whacks her, she is often able to tell me how, why and where.

·She is now able to
speak with pronouns: he, she , you, me

·She is negotiating
more productively with her newly turned 3-year old sister… there are fewer
fights and fits.

What has happened POST stem cells for Gabriella FIVE MONTHS
later:

·Since we started homeschooling the second week of February 2013,
I have had her read almost all of the directions to all of her homework pages.
She does anywhere between 6 to 12 pages in a day… Most of the time she does
about 10.

·At times, I still find her guessing a word or two… but, she can
sound out the words, with short vowels and long vowels (silent “e” and 2 vowel
words). She is also learning about the letter “y” and the sounds it can make in
different words such as “my”, “many”, etc. She can read words with “ing” and
use them in a sentence as well…”walking”.

·Her sentences are becoming much clearer, and while I still don’t
always know what she is saying, my girlfriend mentioned the other day that she
can actually understand Gabriella for the first time. It was exciting to hear
that from someone outside our home.

·Gabriella is beginning to write more than just her name now. Her
homework includes writing numbers, letters, words, and now sentences. In fact,
the first week of May, her very first job was to write a sentence using the
words that she was learning: “cat, sat, and mat.” She told me the sentence,
wrote it, spelling each word by herself correctly, though I helped her with
“the” because she had a brain blank at the moment… “The cat sat on the mat.”
She read the sentence afterwards. And, she remembered the sentence for the rest
of the day and shared that with everyone she could. She was so proud of
herself. It took her 15 minutes to write it. It is still a very slow, tedious
process. But, she is doing something that doctors believed she would never do. On
Mother’s Day (today), she wrote “Mama” all by herself… sounding it out.

·When she is communicating with me, I have her repeat sentences
in proper English (don’t mention this to her speech teacher though… she wants
Gabriella to speak sentences like: I want color” instead of “I want to color.”)

·Her balance is developing… just how much, I still don’t know.
But on 5/5/13, while in Sunday School at church, I videoed her while they sang.
She stood for 5 minutes and 27 seconds before being distracted. I had called
over one of the leaders and asked if they could sing one more song. While I was
talking to the leader, Gabriella sat down. Ugh.
She did get right back up, within 2 seconds, and stood some more… a LOT
MORE! In fact, when she finally sat down the second time, the running time was
20 minutes and 27 seconds. Which means, she stood for 15 minutes… exactly
DOUBLE what she stood the day after her stem cell surgery on 12/12/12 when she
stood 7 ½ minutes. The only other day I have timed her standing.

·One thing I have noticed is that she is starting to repeat
herself again when she wants to talk but has nothing to say. This was one of
those things I prayed would stop. I am hoping as our next little ones join our
family through adoption in 2013, that she will learn how to communicate and
play pretend play without repeating herself or using “baby cries”.

·She is zooming through the Bob Books, a reading curriculum… but,
we probably only sit down to read them 2 times a week. I feel horrible about that…
because she wants to read… but, she also likes to do worksheets. She loves
worksheets. And, now they are getting challenging enough that I actually have
to sit with her for most pages… rather than clean the kitchen or iron clothes.

·I started her on some emergent books. I really do not like this
idea… but, I will see what happens. It’s the kind of book that made me pull her
out of public school. “I see a horse.” “I see a cow.” She loves them though.

·She is just beginning to add objects with numbers (ie. 2 cars
with the number 2 = 4 trucks and the number 4). She is also adding 2 cars plus
3 cars = how many cars?

·She is walking in the upstairs hallway with a plastic grocery
cart with really no weight in it. She would have never been able to do this
before stem cells. This makes me nervous. I did give her, her helmet to put on…
but I prefer to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich… pretending she is
not really doing it… then, my nervousness subsides. I fear she will fall and
hit her head. Sometimes she walks too fast for mama, but she walks with joy and
confidence.

·Her ability to “cruise” along the walls has become more stable
and she moves from wall to wall or hall to hall and through doors with greater
ease.

·She can also “catch” herself if she falls forward… something
that didn’t seem like would happen for years.

As I am watching
Gabriella, I would like to see the following…

·Her confidence blossom.

·Fewer looks for constant affirmation or permission to speak or
do something with another person or teacher. If someone asks her to do
something (anything)… including Baba, she always looks to me to see if she
should answer them or perform for them.

·That she reads to others.

·Fewer “fits”.

·Take more than one independent step as she crosses hallways.

·More dramatic play with her sister, with real words that match
the play.

Our Family the Day Gabriella Came Home!

Our Story to Our First 3 Princesses via VIDEO!

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Our Sweet China Baby!

Serving UTAH residents and US citizens abroad... see the blog for other countries and services

Welcome to America!

Gabriella WAS a SURPRISE!

This blog was posted 7/7/2010; My mom's would be 66th birthday.

Gabriella was a surprise. We kept her a "secret" for almost 16 months.

Tyanna, our 16 year old, wanted to surprise her friends with a 16th birthday party... where the Big Princess passed the crown to the Littlest Princess.

Their celebration was Monday, August 16, 2010. Her friends were speechless. They couldn't believe Tyanna could keep such a secret for so long. Some even thought Gabriella was brought home from China to be her very own baby... rather than just her sister... but, they all understand now!

Don't Miss Out on Our God Stories!

A Bedroom for a Princess

And Her Name Will Be Called: “God is My Strength”

The Vision of the Lavender Rose

Mommy Prays for a Ladybug

God Brought Me My Ladybug!

Our Referral Arrived… the Ladybug was Right!God Called - Her Castle is Ready

Feedjit

You Mu Lan, Foster Sister

As a result of sending a care package and many, many questions to the orphanage, we were told Gabriella has a foster family and even a foster sister.

The Guilin SWI Orphanage was gracious enough to share with us that her foster sister was born in December 2006. Her name is You Mu Lan.

We are excited to announce, that the 4th week of August, 2010, we found Mulan's forever family in Canada. They are a Christian family... just as we had prayed.

We are grateful that God has answered our prayers. The girls (both 3 1/2) will keep in contact via Skype and yearly family vacations together.

You Mu Lan

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you... " John 14:18

"I prayed for this child and the Lord granted me what I asked. "1 Samuel 1:27

Princess Gabriella

Our sweet Guilin Princess

Gabriella's Bedroom

The Pre-Castle Bedroom

Gabriella's Castle

Praying the Lord's healing mantle over Gabriella

Mark 16:15: signs and wonders will follow...

He laid His hands on her and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God (Luke 13:13)

Dearest Gabriella,

May the Lord Jesus Christ touch and heal your body that you will rise up and walk without hindrance. May your ligaments and muscles work together with your brain and your entire body... from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.

May words in both Chinese and English make sense to you. May you understand and speak both languages. May you profess to the Lord and to all the nations that your God healed you. Words are beginning to come to your mouth. Not only can you repeat words, you can speak them in Jesus name!

Our God is healer! He is healing your brain right now as we speak it out.

We love you baby girl!

Last meal in China!

Baba & Mei Mei on the airplane

Luggage for 3

We waited this long for Gabriella to come home!

Guilin, China

Seattle Scrapbooking Services - Creating Scrapbooks for You!

http://seattlescrapbookingservices.com/

Personalized Scrapbook of YOUR Adoption

If you would like a personalized scrapbook of your child's adoption, please click on SeattleScrapbookingSevices.com to contact me.

I will include your scanned documents, digital pictures and stories in a professionally bound, hardbound book for $150. It will include up to 39 pages.

The website does not currently have any digital pages; however, you can see them on my Facebook pages if interested. Please contact me as stated above.

Colors and design will vary depending on your preference.

Our Journey to Gabriella Grace

05/01/09 Lifeline accepted us

Started paperwork that night...

Read the 200+ manual in > 36 hours...

Ordered all documents that week.

08/27/09 Daddy got his fingerprint date for 9/17/09

08/28/09 Kai got his fingerprint date for 9/17/09

09/04/09 Mom got her fingerprint date for 9/17/09

09/17/09 Dad, mom, and Kai got fingerprinted

09/20/09 I800 authenticated

09/30/09 I800 approved

10/12/09 Lavender Rose vision by stranger

11/27/09 DTC - Dossier to China (T.giving Day)

11/27/09 Mom prayed to see a ladybug

01/14/10 LD – Ladybug Delivered

01/21/10 PA – Pre-Approval for Gabriella

01/22/10 Sent in our LOI – Letter of Intent to adopt

01/24/20 Happy Birthday Xu Zhi Ming, 3

01/28/10 LID – Log in Date

02/04/10 Found out we got our LID on 1/28/2010

02/14/10 Chinese New Year, 2 weeks

04/15/10 LOA – Letter of Acceptance (Tax Day)

04/19/10 Received LOA on (77 days for LOA)

04/22/10 Returned LOA to Lifeline

04/23/10 NVC – National Visa Center

05/24/10 1800A cabled (Victoria Day)

06/14/10 Article 5 returned from CCAA (Flag Day)

07/02/10 TA Announced

Grandma Hoppins' Celebration of life

Had Grandpa Hoppins been alive, this day would have celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary.

Their celebration was in Heaven... a reunion after 21 years

07/06/10 TA - Travel Approval received (Aunt Becky's birthday)

07/16/10 Take-off day

07/19/10 Gotcha Day (Gabriella is in our arms!)

07/28/10 CA – Consulate Appointment in China

07/31/10 HOME

About Me

I am currently a full-time mommy and owner of SeattleScrapbookingServices.com.

I create people's stories via scrapbooks in both digital format that is printed in a book or as a paper scrapbook with all the embellishments that you can touch.

I not only have an amazing husband, but I have two beautiful biological teens: Kai and Tyanna. I am also raising my nephews Jordan (17) and Corban (12). We brought home Gabriella in July 2010 and hope to go back to China in 2011 to bring 1 or 2 more princesses home.

It has been my joy to raise our two beautiful teenagers with my amazing husband; but, God miraculously called us 16 years ago, to bring home two little ones. And, through His amazing timing, He aligned the stars for such a time as this.

Because of a vision the Lord gave me, our children have grown up knowing that they have two little sisters in the world.

We started our journey May 1, 2009 to adopt our first little princess. In the next year, we will bring one or two more home.

Grace and Hope for Children http://www.grace-hope.org

Through on-going monthly donations of $40-$50/mo, sponsors such as yourself, help Grace and Hope for Children, place a child in a Chinese home where a mama, baba and family will nurture this child, through what is known as Chinese foster care, until that child is adopted.
Jason and I have sponsored several children over the last few years.

Girls we have sponsored through G&H

We have had the privilege of sponsoring several children through the Grace and Hope program. We believe that at least 5 of our girls have been adopted... Angela Ning (March 2011), Claire You (June 2009), Sydney Xu (spring 2010), Carol Xia (Sept. 2010), Juana Xia, Jeanne Xia, Angela Xia (August 2012 to a Chinese family), Serena Xia, and Dorita Xia (March 2013).

Unfortunately I have exceeded my blogging photo space for all sidebars and can not upload photos of the other girls.

We are looking for these girls and their forever families... so, if you know where they are, PLEASE contact us at plfouts @ msn dot com.

They were all in the Grace and Hope program between 2008 and the present. Juana may have been a bit earlier.

Please check out Grace and Hope and see how you can make a difference in the life of a child. Your sponsorship will change their life.

Sydney Xu

G&H

Angela Ning

Check out the VIDEOS on McKenna's Legacy 2010 aladybugslegacy.blogspot.com